Could I get some toxic masculinity with that beer?

Could I get some toxic masculinity with that beer?

It’s no secret that college and the years of young adulthood are filled with keg stands and blurry memories. College can be seen by many people as a time to “let loose” and binge drink for no other reason than the excuse that “it’s college!”. While this isn’t news to many people, the differences between how genders experience this party culture is vastly different. On average, according to a study from the The Washington Post, “Women drank considerably less than men, peaking at a little less than 4 drinks per week”. Biologically speaking, men typically have a higher tolerance to alcohol, but this isn’t the sole reason drinking has historically promoted hypermasculinity. Historically, drinking has established itself as a men’s tradition; women didn't drink until later in the picture of our history.

Although today it seems that young adults in colleges have the same “party culture” experiences, in reality they are incredibly gendered due to many societal constructs. Overall, the more you drink, the more of a “man” you become. A strong culture of masculinity revolves around the number of beers you can pound in the hour, and boys are often ridiculed and called names like “fag”, “pussy”, or “bitch” if they can’t handle their alcohol as well as their comrades, further perpetuating the connotation that it’s a bad thing to be gay, or a woman. Other sayings like “Saturday’s are for the boys” insinuate that drinking is a masculine activity further promotes this harmful drinking culture that men are expected to immerse themselves into during college. This culture of harmful language furthers externalizes our society’s inherent sexism and homophobia prevalent within many institutions today much like the high school in “Dude Your A Fag” by C. J. Pascoe where high school boys relentlessly used “fag” as an insult to connote inferiority, femininity, and general weakness.

https://www.collegeconfidential.com/admit/college-drinking-and-parents/

The fact that “Men consume significantly higher amounts of alcohol, and report higher frequencies of intoxication, alcohol abuse, and dependency compared to women” according to Society For the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity further promotes the negative effects of drinking that many men believe to be the college experience. A large institution that contributes to this harmful stereotype is through greek life within colleges. Fraternities create an environment that revolves around dominance and binge drinking, promoting the notion that overconsumption of alcohol is a rite of passage to be truly welcomed as one of the “fraternity bros”. The American Psychological Association asserts that this “greek effect” stems from the perception among fraternities to drink heavily and support each other's drinking habits.

Not only do language and institutions advocate for excessive drinking, but inherent cultural norms heavily influence the way our society and men view drinking in general. “Party culture” within college largely revolves around the hookup culture that hypersexualizes women and creates the notion that the more you drink, the easier it will be to “get” a girl. This culture of promiscuity increases the notion that women are sexual objects to be dominated, and getting one “drunk enough” to have sex is considered a win that men each other for.

Lastly, the increase of violence due to alcohol consumption is inherently an issue that many colleges face. As a current college student, violent fights and scuffles often occur at parties for no reason other than the need for someone to prove their dominance and masculinity to everyone. These fights are often completely illogical and unnecessary, yet the culture of partying colleges and our society has created promotes violence as a way to resolve conflict, which reaches elevated levels when involving alcohol.

In conclusion it’s not to say that all underage/college drinking must be stopped immediately; but our conscious tendency to overlook these recurrences only further promotes stereotypes and hypermasculinity that harms not only men, but countless individuals as a consequence. Party culture clearly isn’t going anywhere unless alcohol randomly disappears, so our awareness of the culture of overconsumption, harmful language, hypersexualization, and increase in violence needs to amplified.